Sewing machine cabinets



May 31, 1966 E. w. STANTON ETAL 3,253,870

SEWING MACHINE CABINETS Filed July 18, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.|

INVENTORS Edward WSfanfon Henry J. Milan wyl m WITNESS 9c BY May 31, 1966 Filed July 18, 1963 E. W. STANTON ETAL SEWING MACHINE CABINETS eets-Sheet 2 WITNESS INVENTORS Edward WSfanfon Henry J. Milan BY Mgr fl w TTORNE Y y 1966 E. w. STANTON ETAL 3,253,870

SEWING MACHINE CABINETS 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 18, 1963 INVENTORS Edward W Stanton Henry J. Milan mm mm WITNESS BY Q1 TTORNEY United States Patent 3,253,870 SEWKNG MACHINE CABINETS Edward W. Stanton, Crauford, and Henry .1. Milan, Clark, N.J., assignors to The Singer Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed July 18, 1963, Ser. No. 295,982 3 Claims. (Cl. 31230 This invention relates to sewing machine cabinets and more particular to sewing machine cabinets which are small in size and thus occupy less space in a room than cabinets heretofore generally used and one of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide an improved small sized sewing machine cabinet.

Another object of the present invent-ion is to provide an improved sewing machine cabinet in which all movable legs, latches, trip devices and other mechanisms are so positioned that when all of the doors, drawers and covers of the cabinet are closed the movable legs, latches, trips and other mechanisms will be hidden from view.-

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved sewing machine cabinet having two separate positions in which a sewing machine maybe placed, namely a position for storing the sewing machine and a position in which the sewing machine can be used.

Having in mind the above and other objects that will be evident from an understanding of thisdisclosure, the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts as illustrated in the presently preferred embodiment of the invention which is hereinafter set forth in such detail as to enable those skilled in the art readily to understand the function, operation, construction and advantages of it when read in conjuction with the accompanying drawings in which:

- FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a sewing machine cabinet embodying the present invention, the cabinet being shown in the closed position with the movable legs, latches, trips, etc. hidden from view,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the sewing machine cabinet of FIG. 1 in an open position, and with the sewing machine supporting platform swung to a sewing machine storing position within the cabinet,

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on a plane 3-3 of FIG. 2 showing, in dash-dash lines, the swung out position of the sewing machine supporting platform,

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken on the plane 4-4 of FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55 of FIG. 3 and showing the movable leg members folded upwardly.

As best seen in FIGS. 1 through 5 the sewing machine cabinet 15, embodying the present invention, comprises a bottom wall 16 supported by a pair of front legs 17 and a pair of rear casters 18. From the bottom wall 16 there rises a left side wall 19, a rear wall 21, a right side wall 22 and the three walls 19, 21 and 22 support a top wall 23. A flat member 24 acts both as a front door and as a table top and one edge of the member 24 is hinged from a location adjacent to the front edge of the top wall 23 by a pair of lazy tong hinges 26 (FIG. 5) of the type shown in United States Patent No. 2,686,332. Each lazy tong hinge 26 comprises a T-shaped base plate 27 positioned in a countersink 28 formed in the under surface of the top wall 23, and a second T-shaped base plate 31 positioned in a coun tersink 32 formed in the under or inside surface of the member 24. The base plates 27 and 31 are hinged together, in a known manner, by connecting links which are pivotally connected in the manner shown in Patent No. 2,686,332 supra. The outer surface of the member 24 becomes flush with the top of the top wall 23 when the member 24 is swung to the raised position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and the member 24 thereby acts as a tabletop. Also the front surface of the member 24 is recessed as at 42 behind the front edges of the walls 16, 19, 22 and 23 when the member 24 is lowered to the position shown in FIG. 1, the member 24 thereby acting as a door to close the front of the cabinet 15. The member 24 is formed with an elongated aperture 43 of such shape and form as to receive the bed of a sewing machine 44 when the member 24 is raised to form a tabletop. When the member 24 is lowered to close the front of the cabinet 15 (FIG. 1), the aperture 43 is closed by a decorative panel 46 equipped with a handle 45. The panel 46 may be snapped or held into the aperture 43 in any known manner.

To the free or distal end of the member 24 there is attached a rail 51, which rail 51 depends (FIG. 2) at an angle of substantially 90 degrees with respect to the plane of the member 24. To the free or distal edge of the rail 51 there is secured a pair of spaced posts 52-52 which by means of pins 53 pivotally carry the upper ends of a pair of spaced tubular legs 54' and 55, intermediate portions of the legs 54 and 55 being connected by a cross bar 56. The upper ends of the legs 54-55 are bent, as at 57, in such a manner that, when the legs are folded upwardly about the pivot pins 53 to the position shown in FIG. 5, the main portions of the legs 54 and 55 and the cross bar 56 are positioned adjacent to the under or inside surface of the member 24. This last described arrangements is possible because the distance that the main portions of the legs 54 and 55 are off set by the bends 57 from the pins 53-53 is substantially the same distance that the pins 53-53 are removed from the inside or lower surface of the member 24. Reference to FIG. 5 shows that the legs 5455 when folded are substantially the same length as the longest dimension of the member 24. However, these legs, because they are pivoted on pins 53-53 located a substantial distance below the lower surface of the member 24 are able to support the member .24 at a height above the floor which is substantially equal to the length of the wall 19 plus the length of the cabinet supporting legs 1717. Another way of illustrating the same thing is to point on that the height of the upper surface of the wall 23 above the floor is equal to the length of the legs 17 plus the height of the wall 19, whereas the height of the upper surface of the member 24, when it is serving as a tabletop (FIG. 2), is equal to the vertical dimension of the legs 54-55, plus the length of the posts 5252 above the pins 53, plus the depth of the rail 51, plus the thickness of the member 24.

The legs 54 and 55 are held in the down or tabletop supporting position, by pairs of upper and lower links 58 and 59 which are pivotally connected at 61 and held together by a stop bar 62. The upper links 5858 are pivotally connected to the under surface of the member 24 as at 63 and the lower links 5959 are pivotally connected to the legs 54 and 55 as at 64. The bar 62 determines the extended position of the links 58-59. A leg retaining spring 66 which has a C-shaped depending end is secured to the lower surface of the member 24 in such manner that when the legs 54-55 are fully raised (Fl G. 5) the cross bar 56 is received by the C-shaped end thereby insuring that the legs 54 and 55 will remain in the fully raised position against the inner surface of the member 24. The member 24 is maintained in the raised or tabletop position by a toggle brace formed by two arms 67 and 68 pivotally joined at 69, the arm 67 being pivotally connected to the under side of the member 24 at 71 and the arm 68 being pivotally connected at 72 to the lower end of a depending bracket 73, the upper end of which is secured to the lower surface of the top wall 23. The pivot connection 71 also carries one end of a release lever 74 which has an L-shaped end 76 overlying the upper end of the arm 67 and the free or distal end of the lever 74 depends to a position where it is engaged by the cross bar 56 when the legs 54 and 55 are raised. Engagement of the cross bar 56 with the lever 74 releases the toggle arms 67 and 68 and permits the member 24 to be folded downwardly to the lowered or front door formingposition. The toggle arms 67 and 68 are joined by a conventional spring 77.

The side wall 19 is apertured as at 81 to accommodate the outer end of a sliding dra'wer 82 which moves on a slide 83 opposite ends of which are supported from the side walls 19 and 22 by wooden blocks 8484. The slide 83 is positioned close to the rear wall 21. carries the drawer 82 close to the Wall 21 and thereby providing room in front of the drawer for the bracket 73, and the toggle arms 67 and 68.

A sewing machine platform 86 is swingably supported on a single vertical pivot 87 (FIG. 4) and the platform 86 can be moved from the sewing machine stored position shown in FIG. 2, in which the platform 86 and the sewing machine 44 are positioned within the confines of the walls 19, 21 and 22 and the closed member 24, to the sewing machine removing position shown by dash-dash lines in FIG. 3. When the platform 86 is moved to and from the two positions it is supported by a roller 88 pivotally held between two arms of a bracket 89 secured on top of the bottom wall 16. A pull strap 94 fastened to the front surface of the platform 86 is used to move the platform 86 from one position to the other. The platform 86 is maintained in the stored position by reason of the roller 88 engaging a notch 95 formed in an under portion of the platform86.

In operation the sewing machine cabinet 15 of the present invention functions in the following manner. If the cabinet 15 is closed in the manner shown in FIG. 1 and it is desirable to use the sewing machine 44, the operator grasps the handle 45 and removes the panel 46. Then the member 24 is turned upwardly about the hinges 2626. Next the cross bar 56 is disengaged from the spring 66 and the legs 5455 are lowered from the solid line position shown in FIG. 3 to the dash-dash position shown in FIG. 3, which is the same as the solid line position shown in FIG. .2. This movement causes the toggle arms 67-68 to support the member 24 and also causes the links 58 and 59 to maintain the legs 5455 in the down or supporting position. Then the operator grasps the pull strap 94 and turns the platform 86 from the stored position shown in FIG. 2 to the dash-dash position shown in FIG. 3. Next the operator lifts the sewing machine 44 from the platform 86 and places the base of the sewing machine into the aperture 43 of the member 24. When it becomes desirable to close the cabinet 15, the sewing machine 44 is removed from the member 24 and placed on the platform 86, after .which the platform is swung into the cabinet 15 as shown in FIG. 2. Then the links 58-59 are moved to permit pivotal movement of the legs 54-55 to the position shown by solid lines in FIG. 3. This causes the cross bar 56 to engage the release lever 74 which functions to break the toggle of arms 6768 and allows the member 24 to be lowered to close the front of the cabinet 15. Then the aperture 43 is closed by the panel 46. Reference to FIGS. 1 and 3 shows that the movable legs 54-55, the links 58-59, the lever 74, the arms 67-68 and other mechanical parts are positioned out of sight within the cabinet.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed herein is:

1. A sewing machine cabinet comprising a rear wall; a bottom 'wall; a left side wall; a right side wall; a top wall; a movable combination tabletop-door member apertured to receive a sewing machine and said tabletopdoor member having an upper surface and a lower surface; means for hingedly supporting one edge of said tabletop-door member from one edge of said top wall;

This

a rail carried on the free end of said tabletop-door member and extending below the lower surface thereof, a leg member'for supporting said tabletop-door member in a raised position; means for hingedly supporting said leg member from said rail; a movable sewing machine platform; and means for hingedly supporting said sewing machine platform in such a manner that said sewing machine platform can be moved from a stored position within said cabinet to a position below said tabletop-door member when said tabletop-door member is in its raised position, said sewing machine platform being located adjacent to the bottom of said cabinet but elevated sufficiently above the bottom wall thereof so as to leave a space between said platform and the bottom wall of said cabinet, said space receiving the said rail when said tabletop'door member is lowered to close the front of said cabinet.

2. A sewing machine cabinet comprising a rectangular rear wall; a rectangular bottom wall; a rectangular left side wall; a rectangular right side wall; a rectangular top wall, the bottom wall, the two side walls and the top wall being elongated and thereby having short and long edges, the short edges of the elongated rectangles defining the depth from front to rear of the sewing machine cabinet;

a movable combination rectangular tabletop-door mem-' ber apertured to receive a sewing machine and being of such size that one set of edges of said tabletop-door member are substantially equal to the long edges of said top and bottom walls, and the other set of edges of said tabletop-door member are substantially equal to the long edges of said two side walls, saidtabletop-door member having an upper surface and a lower surface; means for hingedly supporting one edge of said tabletop-door member from one of the long edgesof said top wall; a rail carried on the free end of said tabletop-door member and extending below the lower surface thereof; a leg member for supporting said tabletop-door member in a raised position; means for hingedly supporting said leg member from said rail; a movable rectangular sewing machine platform having long and short edges of such size that the long set of edges of said platform are shorter than the long edges of the top and bottom walls of said cabinet and that the short set of the edges of said platform are shorter than the short edges of the top and bottom walls of said cabinet; and means for hingedly supporting said sewing machine platform in such a manner that said sewing machine platform can be moved from a stored position within said cabinet to a position below said tabletop-door member when said tabletop-door member is in its raised position, said sewing machine platform being located adjacent to the bottom of said cabinet but elevated sufiiciently above the bottom wall thereof so as to leave a space between said platform and the bottom wall of said cabinet, said space receiving the said rail when said tabletop-door member is lowered to cIOIe the front of said cabinet.

3. A sewing machine cabinet comprising a rear wall; a bottom wall; a left side wall; a right side wall; a top wall; a movable combination tabletop-door member apertured to receive a sewing machine and said tabletopdoor member having an upper surface and a lower surface; means for hingedly supporting one edge of said tabletop-door member from one edge of said top wall; a rail carried on the free end of said tabletop-door member and extending below the lower surface thereof, a leg member for supporting said tabletop-door member in a raised position; means for hingedly supporting said leg member from said rail; a movable sewing machine platform; and means for hingedly supporting said sewing machine platform in such a manner that said sewing machine platform can be moved from a stored position within said cabinet to a position below said tabletop-door member when said tabletop-door member is in its raised position.

(References on following page) 5 6 References Cited by the Examiner 2,875,009 2/ 1959 Glover 312-29 3,150,623 9/ 1964 Dreyfuss 112-258 UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 478,594 7/1892 Hafgar 312-197 X 517,031 3/1894 Conde 31230 5 524,721 5/1956 Canada. 540,515 6/1895 Rowlett 312-30 1, 11/19 4 Fr nce. 1,322,385 11/1919 WilSOn 312-291 OTHER REFERENCES 13 Tani: Utility M9de1 Registration No. 473,977, Mach 1655516 1/1928 1958, Japan, pubhcatlon No. 11,655/1957, apphcatlon' lmpsm 10 No 45 008/1955. 2,015,518 9/1935 Fuller 31221 X ggg g 7/ 1938 Engel 3 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner. 5156512; Z5132? $61 3, :11:1:::1: 1255 CHANCELLOR HARRIS, FRANK SHERRY, 2,649,349 8/1953 Goodrich 312--282X 15 Exanmm- 2,755,156 7/ 1956 Nichols 312314 A. FRANKEL, Assistant Exdminer. 

1. A SEWING MACHINE CABINET COMPRISING A REAR WALL; A BOTTOM WALL; A LEFT SIDE WALL; A RIGHT SIDE WALL; A TOP WALL; A MOVABLE COMBINATION TABLETOP-DOOR MEMBER APERTURED TO RECEIVE A SEWING MACHINE AND SAID TABLETOPDOOR MEMBER HAVING AN UPPER SURFACE AND A LOWER SURFACE; MEANS FOR HINGEDLY SUPPORTING ONE EDGE OF SAID TABLETOP-DOOR MEMBER FROM ONE EDGE OF SAID TOP WALL; A RAIL CARRIED ON THE FREE END OF SAID TABLETOP-DOOR MEMBER AND EXTENDING BELOW THE LOWER SURFACE THEREOF, A LEG MEMBER FOR SUPPORTING SAID TABLETOP-DOOR MEMBER IN A RAISED POSITION; MEANS FOR HINGEDLY SUPPORTING SAID LEG MEMBER FROM SAID RAIL; A MOVABLE SEWING MACHINE PLATFORM; AND MEANS FOR HINGEDLY SUPPORTING SAID SEWING MACHINE PLATFORM IN SUCH A MANNER THAT SAID SEWING MACHINE PLATFORM CAN BE MOVED FROM A STORED POSITION WITHIN SAID CABINET TO A POSITION BELOW SAID TABLETOP-DOOR MEMBER WHEN SAID TABLETOP-DOOR MEMBER IS IN ITS RAISED POSITION, SAID SEWING MACHINE PLATFORM BEING LOCATED ADJACENT TO THE BOTTOM OF SAID CABINET BUT ELEVATED SUFFICIENTLY ABOVE THE BOTTOM WALL THEREOF SO AS TO LEAVE A SPACE BETWEEN SAID PLATFORM AND THE BOTTOM WALL OF SAID CABINET, SAID SPACE RECEIVING THE SAID RAIL WHEN SAID TABLETOP-DOOR MEMBER IS LOWERED TO CLOSE THE FRONT OF SAID CABINET. 